The number of qualified controllers at the Westbury, LI, center that monitors New York’s air traffic is down to 158 — far fewer than the 205 to 270 authorized in the Federal Aviation Administration budget, the controllers’ union says.

There are 58 trainees but that’s not enough, says Dean Iacopelli, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

“We have a slew of people whose sum total of . . . experience is, maybe they were on an airplane once,” he said.